Life has been so much calmer now that I put the whole Nats thread on my ignore list. There is more intelligent Nats talk here than on that whole board.
I stopped posting on there for those types of reasons. I browse through there just to get some nat news but my god, some of those posters...
The best part of it was when he asked the person who disagreed with him to "watch all the games, see, it's not that hard!" My response: I've watched all the games, and I have literally no idea what you're talking about.
I'm actually on the Nats board more often than I'm here, and I totally missed this one! The reactionary nature of fans discussing the national team is hilarious. There always has to be one guy that people have to pick apart. Now that Dempsey is producing finally, Donovan is going to be that guy (well, he and Jozy Altidore at the moment). Donovan or Green? I'm thinking that a posters that say things like that don't actually watch a ton of soccer in general...
Every WC year brings out the instant experts, ones who watched the Mexi friendly maybe but not much else.
Heh. Once again, Bayern have a total mental collapse in the CL, losing 4-0 on their home ground, showing again they do not handle being surprised well. I have no doubt that getting into the head of the arrogant Bayern team that locked up the title weeks ago was part of Ancelotti's strategy. From the beginning Pepe and Ramos were getting into the heads of the Bayern attackers and after the 1st goal in the 15th minute, they were visibly frustrated. The second goal came after a Madrid counter which drew two reckless fouls; the latter a needless foul by Schweinsteiger on Bale who was already being double-teamed, leading to a FK right outside the box that ultimately scores. Granted, Bayern is not Germany, but Neuer, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Kroos all seemed to lose it mentally in this match (Neuer didn't even bother trying to save the 4th goal). Even the level-headed Lahm seemed out of it later in the game. Another similarity to Bayern is they will be going into this tournament with high expectations (though probably a little less arrogant now).
Truuuuue...but I think many people overrated them due to that, partially because of the comprehensive performances against Juve and a declining Barcelona. OTOH, they advanced from one of the easier groups and narrowly defeated Arsenal on away goals after giving up 2 at home. You could argue they evaded the toughest teams in the tournament in Real Madrid and Dortmund* (CR7 and Lewandowski were the 1st and 2nd top scorers in that tourney) who advanced from a Group of Death consisting of Ajax and Man City. *Grosskreutz started for an injured Gotze in the final and as a result that Dortmund team Bayern faced was a shadow of the one that had their number consistently over the past couple seasons.
Very insightful story! Never even heard of him. @MLS: The World Cup hero who never was. THE WORD: http://t.co/GVT0QwgqIp #USMNT http://t.co/HBrHCxkrGO
Don't know anything about him, but didn't come off as a great person or teammate. In fact his story reminds me of a ton of great athletes, who weren't great guys and coasted by on their talent.
30-man released. GOALKEEPERS (3) :Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) DEFENDERS (11) : DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC) MIDFIELDERS (10) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City) FORWARDS (6) : Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) Gotta say the biggest shock for me is EJ not even making it in the 30 and Corona getting a spot.
That looks about right. Maybe Corona for EJ is the only real surprise, for me... But EJ has shown the past few months to be such an incredibly supportive locker room presence, can you fault Klinsmann for dropping him...?
As a forward that hasn't scored a goal in awhile, that's a bit of a problem for Landon. Still nervous for his inclusion in the 23. He is a backup at least at every position in attack except banger forward, so I hope his knee holds up and reason prevails. Would like to see him play in his 4th World Cup. On the roster - the EJ exclusion surprised me. He seemed like an automatic, even with the recent issues he's had. I even took this up with someone in another thread recently, who argued with me that the crazy comments from EJ were the nail in his WC hopes coffin. I was so wrong! Not that EJ will be missed much.
The amount of people writing off LD in the Nats thread is depressing. The amount of people that have drawn those conclusions without watching a single LA game is also depressing (and so very obvious). Half the fricking roster thread is about whether he a) makes the roster, b) starts or c) is fat/slow. Here's to hoping he's got 1 WC left in him. Based on his quotes, I think he does. People long ago wrote off Omar G. No one even bothers with him right now. And apparently now as a team LA sucks - that's a conclusion too. The 30 is fine - I'm more curious as to the 7 that don't make it. Predictions: Corona - meh in performance this year Green - think JK wants to take him, but he's just too young Boyd or AJ - whichever is not in form Davis - too slow Yedlin - too young Brooks - not consistent enough Evans - I hope to God this happens though I fear he is JK's security blanket. If he goes, then either Edu or Diskerud don't make the cut. Not sad about EJ. Am happy about Chandler. I know people are upset about what happened with him. But Brad Evans. Looking forward to the send-off series. I'm going to the first game.
Yeah I agree with all that. Going to the SF game too. Sadly don't have AO tickets because we didn't know we were going until about two weeks ago. But we're sitting pretty dang close, and 4th row even.